A big “Thank you!” to everyone who came out for the last Antero Ice Fishing Contest, for a while at least. More than 500 hale and hearty ice anglers came out for what turned into a beautiful day at Antero and the opportunity to win great prizes and to catch and keep up to eight fish!

Draining will begin this summer and once the reservoir is drained, repairs will begin on the dam and any other areas identified for needed work. We don’t know how long this will take, or when the reservoir will be filled again so that we can hold the next contest, but we do know that we went out with a big bang this year!

All of the winning trout were cutbows. The $500.00 first place fish caught by Jordan Fehrn weighed in at 7.25 lbs! It was 25.8” long and one of the biggest challenges for Jordan was getting the fish up through the ice hole!

First Place: $5007.25 lb & 25.8 in

Second Place: $250 3.75 lb & 20.75 in

Third Place: $1003.25 lb & 19.8 in

Fourth Place: $502.95 lb & 19.75 in

The day wrapped up with a door prize drawing and 19 lucky people went home with wonderful prizes that included $50.00 Amazon gift cards, a 4-person ice shelter, a Fraybill polar suit, rod cases, outfitted buckets with covers and cases as well as a hand auger and a power auger. All-in-all, a great time was had by everyone.

In the six years that CUSP has been running this contest for Denver Water and with a lot of help from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Park County Sheriff’s office and fire works support from Hartsel Fire, we have raised well over $30,000. Once the reservoir is drained and assessed, we will have some solid data about areas of improvement where these funds can be used to enhance the recreational experience at Antero once it is filled again. These improvements can range from improved campsites to helping with re-stocking the reservoir once it is filled again.

Again, we thank everyone who has supported this fun family event over the years and we look forward to seeing you all again in the future! In the mean time – get out to Antero before it is drained and catch lots of fish!